The owner, Glenn Bernbaum, fastidiously organized the seating arrangements: Well-known regulars got the tables along the walls, whereas up-and-comers were seated at tables down the middle. “A food critic dining anonymously at Mortimer’s once described the welcome accorded walk-ins as a greeting normally given to bill collectors,” wrote The New York Times of the restaurant. To be fair, no one really went to Mortimer’s for the food. “The professional dieters in the crowd often make a meal out of an appetizer selection, asparagus vinaigrette, say, or tomatoes basil, cucumber, and dill salad and mushrooms with fines herbes,” read a 1980 account of Mortimer’s in The Daily News.
Instead, it was about vibes. Regulars included Henry Kissinger, Oscar de la Renta, and Brooke Astor—the latter of two threw a buzzy dinner for Renata Adler’s made-for-television movie Reckless Disregard. Bill Paley (CBS Chairman and husband of Babe Paley) often dined there with his daughter, Kate (the step-aunt of Belle Burden, the New York Times best-selling author of Strangers.) Farrah Fawcett dined there with Ryan O’Neal and Valentino Garavani. Andy Warhol, meanwhile, attended Basquiat’s 25th birthday there. (It was a popular celebratory haunt: Bianca Jagger also threw a birthday party at Mortimer’s in 1981.)
And that’s just to name a few. “We gossip mavens already know, of course, that from the time it opened four years ago, Mortimer’s has been a smart set special—no lunch passes by that doesn’t have Diana Vreeland, Nan Kempner, C.Z. Guest, Gerry Stutz, or Bill Blass in the crowd. And dinner is usually more than just folks too. The crowd is lush with money and they like to spend it here,” reported The Daily News.
Another regular? Carolina Herrera and her husband, Reinaldo. In 2018, Herrera stepped down from her creative director role at Carolina Herrera and appointed Gordon as her successor. When it came to choosing a location for the brand’s 45th anniversary party, he wanted some place that meant something to the fashion label.
